After quickly dressing her, he scooped Kelly into his arms and started jogging down the beach. “Just hang on, darling. We’ll get you back to camp, and maybe Blair will have a better idea how to treat this. Lord knows that woman is knowledgeable about nearly everything else.”
By the time Zach staggered into camp with Kelly in his arms, she was whimpering pathetically. Tears tracked endlessly down her cheeks. “Lay out a blanket for her. Somebody fetch some water,” he called out.
“Good heavens! What has happened?” Blair hastened to spread a blanket on the ground.
Gently, Zach deposited Kelly onto it, careful not to bump her leg. “Something bit her, or stung her. I think it was some variety of jellyfish, though I can’t be entirely sure.”
“Oh, dear!”
Alita paused in passing, the coffeepot in hand. “Ay! That looks awful! And painful!”
“It is!” Kelly whined. “It stings something fierce! As if someone is holding a hot poker against my leg!”
“I will hurry with the water, amiga.”
“Wait!” Gavin told her. “One of the guys in my unit in Hawaii got stung by a jellyfish a few months back, and they told us it’s best to rinse the wound with salt water instead. It has something to do with the sacs or cells the tentacles shoot into the victim’s skin. They react to fresh water, releasing even more venom into the system. And you’ve got to wipe all the tentacles off, too.”
“I’ve done that,” Zach said. “But I’m glad you told us about the water. I don’t want to cause her any more pain. What else did they do for the soldier? Do you remember?”
Gavin nodded. “They made sure his tetanus was up to date, gave him some type of shot to stop the itching and swelling, and kept applying alcohol to the wound.”
“To sterilize it, I suppose,” Zach reasoned.
“I guess it helped hold the pain down by neutralizing the stinging cells, somehow. At least, that’s what the lieutenant told us when he was instructing us what to do if it ever happened to another one of us.” Gavin snapped his fingers. “Hey! He said if you didn’t have regular rubbing alcohol, you could use the kind you drink. Kelly’s still got those little freebie liquor bottles in her bag, doesn’t she?”
“Get them,” Zach instructed. “And that bottle of aspirin.”
Kelly groaned. “Oh, Lord, Zach! My leg is cramping up just like when you get a really bad charlie horse! Can’t you rub it out for me? Please?”
Gavin heard, and yelled back, “No! That’ll break more of those sacs open, and make it hurt worse.”
“Maybe a couple of Midol would work better than plain aspirin,” Alita suggested. “If it works for menstrual cramps, it might help her leg.”
“It certainly couldn’t do her any more harm,” Blair agreed. “And a dab of that antibacterial ointment wouldn’t be amiss, either.”
Zach dragged a hand through his hair in agitation. “Is there anything on this entire, blasted island that isn’t a peril to mankind?” he fumed. “Can anything else possibly go wrong?”
“Don’t, Zach.” Kelly reached out a trembling hand to pat his arm. “It will be okay.” Tears still welled from her eyes, even as she tried to console him. “After all, it can’t hurt like this forever. And it’s not as if I got attacked by a shark. It was just a creepy little jellyfish.”
Her breath was emerging in short, pained pants. “My head is starting to ache more than my leg,” she added weakly. She tried to roll to her side, moaning with the movement.
“Lie still, sweetheart.”
“Can’t,” she wheezed, her eyes and teeth tightly clenched now. “Gonna throw up.”
That set the pattern for the following, seemingly endless hours. What little fluid and medication they managed to get into her usually came back up. Her muscles cramped abominably, knotting and twisting until she writhed in agony. She had a headache that made a migraine seem tame. But those times when she couldn’t seem to catch her breath were what scared Zach the worst. That, and being virtually unable to do anything to ease her suffering. Moreover, he and the others knew, even if Kelly apparently didn’t, that stings from some jellyfish could be fatal.
He kept a vigil at her side, hardly daring to leave for a quick trip to the latrine, watching as she managed to snatch a few minutes of pain-racked sleep at a stretch. For the most part, she was lucid, but in this instance, being fully aware was scarcely a blessing. The others offered to spell him, to give him time to stretch and eat, but basically it was Zach who sat with her. She was most calm when he was beside her, as if he and he alone could lend her strength enough to carry on. His name was the one she called; his hand was the one she clutched so tightly that the bones soon felt bruised.
He talked to her, encouraging her until his voice was hoarse. Sometimes he just rambled from one topic to the next, telling her about his childhood, his college years, his family, the different places he’d worked. During the worst spells, he reminded her, “You can’t leave me now, love. You and I have a date to be married, and it wouldn’t be kosher to stand me up at the altar.”
“I know. I won’t,” she rasped, forcing her words through gritted teeth, attempting in turn to keep his spirits up. “I’ll beat this. No spineless little blob of jelly is going to get the better of me. That would be the height of humiliation, wouldn’t it?”
Around noon the next day, after being up with Kelly throughout the night, Zach had drifted into a light sleep. If it hadn’t been for Gavin’s excited yell, he might have missed hearing the aircraft that buzzed directly over the island, so low it sounded as if he could reach right up and shake hands with the pilot.
Zach leapt to his feet, instantly alert. “Stay with her!” He was halfway across the campsite, headed toward the path to the beach as he shouted the order to Blair.
“Go! Go!” Blair waved him on, pausing only to scoop Sydney out of the way. “Hurry!”
Zach knew he’d never run faster in his life—that he was probably breaking all kinds of track records—yet the beach had never seemed further away. It was like one of those weird dreams in which you run in slow motion and everything stays the same distance from you, frustratingly unattainable, no matter how hard you try to reach it. Though logic told him it had taken mere seconds to cover the short span, it seemed an eternity.
He was two strides from the end of the trees and the open beach when something cracked him on the head with the force of a hammer. The earth spun crazily as his feet went out from under him. Just before he hit the ground, before everything went black, he caught a quick glimpse of Earl on the path behind him, hand raised and holding the pistol aloft.
Zach awoke feeling as if his head had been split open with an ax. It was when he tried to raise his hand to his head that he discovered he was in an even worse predicament. Through slitted eyelids, he peered dazedly at the metal cuff encircling his wrist. Comprehension dawned.
“Damn!” he groaned.
“You can say that again,” Gavin intoned miserably from his place next to Zach.
Zach lifted his lids a fraction more, and saw that Gavin’s hand was attached to the other cuff. They were linked together, with the short connecting chain looped beneath a slight arc of exposed tree root. The ends of the root were still underground, with only a foot-long curve visible above the surface.
Zach gave an experimental tug at the cuff, a move that elicited an immediate grumble from Gavin. “Hey! That hurt!”
“Sorry. I was just testing to see how sturdy this root is, if there was any chance of pulling it loose or breaking it.”
Gavin eyed the four-inch thick root skeptically. “I doubt it. That thing looks like it’s there to stay for another hundred years.”
“Shit!” Zach eased back against the tree, careful not to slam his head against it. “I take it Earl clobbered you, too?”
“Yeah. Makes me wonder why we didn’t try the same trick with him days ago.”
“Mainly because he’s carrying a gun, and we aren’t,” Zach replied sardo
nically. “So, did anyone make it to the beach to signal the plane?”
“No. Blair and the kid were here with Kelly, and Blair didn’t have any idea we were out of commission. Alita tried, I guess, but Earl threatened to shoot her, so there wasn’t much she could do except back off. She’s mad as hell, by the way.”
“That makes two of us.” Zach gazed around, taking stock of the situation. The root to which he and Gavin were secured was part of one of the aerial supports beneath the canopy of the banyan tree, just a few yards from the central firepit. Kelly lay on her blanket nearby, with Blair in attendance. Sydney was cuddled in Alita’s lap, on the other side of the campfire. Earl was nowhere in sight. “Where is the bastard?” Zach growled.
“I don’t know,” Gavin said. “Guess he got tired of Alita cussing at him.”
Zach’s gaze rebounded to Kelly. “How is she?” he called out to Blair.
Blair shook her head. “About the same.”
Zach cursed. “Damn that son-of-a bitch! She needs help! This might have been our best chance at being rescued, and he had to screw it up! All because he doesn’t want to get arrested again! It really doesn’t matter to him if the rest of us rot here with him, or that Kelly might die without medical attention, as long as he doesn’t wind up behind bars.”
“It was bad enough before,” Gavin agreed with a dismal sigh, “but now we’re the ones shackled to a tree and he’s runnin’ around with that pistol, making like he’s king of the mountain or something. Lord only knows what that crazy ass will do next.”
“We’ve got to get loose,” Zach said, “before he takes it into his head to rape the women or kill us all.”
“Yeah, but how? Earl has the key, and I don’t think Alita, as sexy as she is, is gonna be able to sweet-talk him out of it.”
“He’ll have to let us loose sooner or later, if only to go relieve ourselves. Maybe, between us, we can overpower him.”
“While he’s holdin’ a gun on us?” Gavin inquired doubtfully. “Get real, man. I don’t plan to get myself shot any sooner than necessary.”
“We’ll think of something. We have to. And speaking of weapons, whatever happened to that sword? Last I recall, you were hacking trees with it. Maybe we could use it to sever this root. At least then we’d only be tied to each other.”
“I dropped it when I heard the plane. It’s still layin’ back where I was working… unless Earl has found it already.”
“I wonder if one of the girls could get to it before he does,” Zach speculated. He called Blair over, not wanting to chance that Earl would suddenly appear and overhear their conversation, and briefly discussed the possibility with her.
“I’ll send Alita right away,” Blair declared. “One of us has to stay and look after Kelly and Syd.”
“Is her breathing any better?” Zach asked worriedly.
Blair’s expression was bleak. “It’s hard to tell, Zach. At this point, with all that poison in her system, all we can do is hope she’s strong enough to fight it off.”
Zach’s eyes misted. “I can’t lose her now, Blair. I couldn’t bear it. I’ve already lost one woman I love. I can’t lose Kelly, too.”
Blair patted his shoulder. “She’s young, Zach, and healthy—or was until this happened. She could pull through just fine. We just have to wait… and pray. Pray for all you’re worth.”
* * *
Alita, following the vague directions Gavin gave her, located the sword. She smuggled it into camp right under Earl’s nose, hidden in an armload of firewood.
“You are one worthless hombre,” she railed at Earl. With her back to him, she dumped the pile of limbs near the fire, close to where Kelly lay. Kneeling, she tossed a branch on the fire, at the same time covertly sliding the sword under the edge of Kelly’s blanket. She resumed her tirade. “The least you could do is bring water from the pool, or collect wood for the fire, or do something other than mess with that damned pulque you are concocting.”
“Pulque?” Earl repeated grumpily. “Is that another one o’ them Mex words you’re so fond o’ tossin’ around, like it was supposed to impress me?”
“For your information, you big jackass—or should I say burro?—pulque is a liquor made from the agave plant.”
“You know, I’m gettin’ right tired o’ you actin’ so high and mighty, and spoutin’ off at the mouth all the time. ’Specially when you do it in Spanish. If ya got somethin’ to say to me, say it plain out in English.”
“Hah! Like you speak that language, either!” she taunted. She rounded on him, her fists braced on her hips in a provocative stance. “Okay, you want it in words you can understand? Get off your dead ass and do something useful, you lazy bum! And you talk about me? Instead of shooting off your own mouth, why don’t you shoot off that lousy gun of yours? Go hunting and bring back a nice plump pigeon or two. I’m tired of fish, fish, fish!”
“I ain’t wastin’ ammo on a blasted bird, woman,” he rebutted.
“Then strangle one with your bare hands, for all I care. Just bring me meat!” She threw her hands up in an exasperated gesture. “Isn’t that what a man is supposed to do, after all? Supply meat for the table? You are a man, aren’t you?”
She’d thrown down the gauntlet, in front of everyone, and quite deliberately. It was one he couldn’t ignore, any more than a bull could ignore a matador’s cape.
“I’ll show you who’s a man,” he snarled, tossing down the piece of wood he’d been whittling and starting to rise. “You probably ain’t never been with a real man before.”
Alita faced him with a haughty sneer. “That is so typical! A man trying to prove himself by what he has in his pants! Which makes him no better than any other animal roaming the earth! But even the male beast knows when to rut and when to provide for his mate. He brings her meat to please her. Can you really call yourself a man and do less?”
Earl paused, dumbfounded. “You want me to court you with a pigeon?” he asked with an incredulous half-laugh.
She smirked. “Again, I will say it clearly. I am totally pissed at you, that you have again prevented us from getting off this island. You have a lot to make up for—a lot of kissing up to do, as they say. At this point, the only cock I will gladly accept from you comes with a beak and feathers attached to it. You bring me that kind, first. Present it to me plucked and cooked to perfection. Then, and only then, will I consider the one you so braggingly think I should admire.”
To everyone’s amazement, Earl bought into her spiel. He puffed up like a strutting rooster. “You got a deal! I’m gonna bring you the fattest, juiciest damn bird you ever did see. Maybe a whole slew of ’em. But don’t you try to wiggle out o’ your part afterward.”
Alita couldn’t help getting in one last jab. “We will see. From where I’m standing, a bird on the plate is worth two in the bush.”
Nobody bothered to correct her misinterpretation of the old adage.
Chapter 17
“Dang, woman! Watch it with that thing! You trying to lop off a hand, or what?”
Kelly nudged Blair’s leg to get her attention. “What are they, doing now?”
Blair had already explained that Earl had knocked both Zach and Gavin out and handcuffed them to the tree root. “Alita is trying to hack through the root with the sword, but there’s not much space in which to work. In order to give it a good whack, she has to swing it hard, and the guys are nervous. Not that I blame them. I sure wouldn’t want someone chopping at a slippery root mere inches from my hand.”
“Maybe if she used her knife, she could chip away at it,” Kelly offered weakly.
“Hear that?” Blair called out. “Kelly says to try your knife instead, Alita.”
For several minutes, Alita alternately poked and sawed at the root with her knife, with little appreciable results.
“At this rate, we’ll be here ’til doomsday!” Zach grumbled.
“And Earl sure isn’t going to be off hunting that long,” Gavin added. “Does anyone kno
w how to pick a lock?”
“Don’t you?” Alita asked archly.
Gavin took exception. “Hey! Just because I’m black doesn’t automatically make me a criminal, you know.”
Alita shrugged. “Just asking. I simply thought you might be better at it than I am.”
“Say what?”
Zach, too, couldn’t believe he’d heard her correctly. “You’re into jimmying locks?”
“Used to be,” she admitted readily. “But I was never really good at it.”
“Good, bad, or otherwise, give it a try,” Zach told her.
Alita studied the hasp on the cuffs. “I don’t know. It has one of those funny little holes that takes a special key. I will need something narrow to stick in there, but it must also be strong enough not to bend or break. I don’t think a hairpin will work, and this knife blade is much too wide.”
“Let me see that knife,” Zach told her. She handed it over, and after inspecting it for a moment, he pulled a long, thin piece of metal out of the end of it.
“What is that?”
“It’s a toothpick, and fortunately it’s metal instead of wood,” Zach explained. “Most Swiss pocket knives have them. They also have these.” Again, he retrieved a metal object from its compartment in the knife, holding it up.
“My goodness!” Alita exclaimed. “It’s a tiny pair of tweezers!” She grabbed both items and set to work.
Half an hour later, she sat back, thoroughly discouraged. “I’m sorry. It’s no use.”
“Then we’re stuck,” Zach conceded. “The only thing left to try is to cut the links apart, and we don’t have anything that will do the job. We’d need a hacksaw, at the least.”
Horizons Page 18
